6th of June is not only known for the famous D-Day landings, as on the 50th anniversary of the same (1994), the then 25-year-old Brian Lara defied all the odds by bragging a massive 501* while plying his trade with Warwickshire County Cricket Club against Durham at Edgbaston. And to add further to it, Warwickshire completed their treble by winning the County Championship, Sunday League and Benson & Hedges Cup later in the same season.

The Trinidad and Tobago-born veteran, in the process, surpassed the milestone of 499 runs set by Hanif Mohammad back in January 1959. His 500 runs benchmark came just two months after he scored a whopping 375 runs in 538 balls in a Test series against England – The Wisden Trophy.

The Windies international, however, could have failed to reach the summit had it not been a no ball from Anderson Cummins and the misfielding of Chris Scott. Cummins got the better of Lara while he was stuck at just 12 runs, but was called not-out due to a no ball. Furthermore, while standing onto the crease with 18 runs at his disposal, wicketkeeper Chris Scott dropped off his catch, allowing them to regret their faults after the game. After the drop Scott supposedly muttered: “Oh dear, he’ll probably go on and get a hundred.”

A fan stormed a football field in his car while the Emirati Al-Ahli and Al-Jazira teams Under-18s were in action. A video of the incident has gone viral and it clearly showed the reckless driving the car in a high speed on field

Steven Gerrard scored some of the most jaw-dropping long range efforts in the history of football. He was inspirational for Liverpool, winning them countless games with his goals, as well as his leadership on the pitch.

With caste discrimination a confounding catalyst of division in rural India, Ulrik Reinhard, a German native did something that was importantly needed in a caste incited rural village – she built a skateboard park to give school children a vocation, encourage freedom of expression and dismiss the caste identities dividing their generation. The skateboard park in the Janwaar village of Madhya Pradesh helps children have nurturing friendships and break through caste barriers while learning something fun.

Speaking as the key note speaker at the ‘International Conference On Perspectives and Practices in Play’, she commented on the result of the skate park saying, “The skate park has been the one area where there is no difference in gender and an Adivasi and a Yadav come together. There is no hierarchy and everyone calls each other by their names. The beautiful thing about play is that it is an environment where free spirits are allowed to grow unlike the education system in India. The only two rules we had were ‘Girls first’ and ‘No school. No skateboarding’. This environment has slowly spread outside the vicinity of the skate park.”

The skateboard park has brought new change by turning upside down the orthodox mind-set that was previously a mainstay of thought among villagers. The children of the Yadav and Adivasi caste now mingle without reproach, and they have also learnt to speak out against the ways of the past, being promoted by their sense of identity and freedom of expression.

A few days after former Pakistan wicket-keeper Rashid Latif posted a video on his Facebook, lambasting former Indian batsman Virender Sehwag and Indian cricket team, India’s discarded batsman Manoj Tiwary has come out with another video giving a reply to Latif.

In the video, Tiwary is heard criticizing Latif for making sultry comments against Virender Sehwag. Tiwary also warned Latif that if he posted another video on social media, he will hit him with a sleeper. Tiwary, who plays for West Bengal, said that Latif’s statement was not welcomed at all and he had let himself down in front of every youth who looked up to him in India.

Latif, in his video blog, had said that Sehwag should search for history and know who is whose father. He had also asked Sehwag to research about the place from where he comes.

With the likes of celebrities regularly representing their teams and a bunch of suspense and promotion, IPL 10 has had a wider hype than any previous year. Celebrities are all in favour of keeping the feeling alive and often appear in the audience or in candid moments. Now that we are into the mid-phase of the season, it’s great to know what some celebrities have to say about their favourite cricketer in this battle of giants. One of these celebrities – the enigmatic Ranveer Singh.

Ranveer has made it big in a short span of time, becoming one of the most talked about personalities in the Bollywood scene and a highly regarded actor in the industry. Ranveer showed up with IPL commentators Gaurav Kapur and former cricketers Aakash Chopra and Ajay Jadeja for an episode of Extraaa Innings. Ranveer commented on the most skilled cricketer in the game; according to him, there is only one cricketer who stands out as perfect after Sachin Tendulkar, and that is MS Dhoni. Ranveer said that if people think MS Dhoni is out of his element, to remember that ‘form is temporary, class is permanent’. Ranveer stated that when the big games come out in the later parts of IPL 10, ‘the lion is going to roar’ (or in other words, MS Dhoni will bring out the big guns).

The Chelsea team had crazy celebrations on and off the field after winning the Premier league title. Chelsea won against West Brom 1-0 at the Hawthorns due to the efforts of Michy Batshuayi who came off the bench to score the victory goal. The player who has been mostly on the sidelines scored his 2nd goal in the league while playing for the Blues. The 82nd minute goal secured their win and mass celebrations followed, both for fans, players and of course the brain behind the team, the manager Antonio Conte.

Speaking to Sky Sports, Cesc Fabregas summed up what just happened and what he’s feeling in one sentence, ‘Football is f****** unbelievable.’ Conte was thrown into the air in celebration, and Terry too, as part of the on-field celebration. Antonio Conte celebrated at the Hawthorns where players poured a bucket of water on him and sprayed him with champagne. It started when Conte was busy giving the media a heavy press conference when the Chelsea team kidnapped him and took him to the celebration side to begin the party.

Chris Gayle is known for more than just his Salt Bae moves post his brilliant batting – the cricketer can also juggle, as was seen recently when he showed off his juggling skills with Anusha Dandekar. Gayle seemed to have a problem with juggling the tennis balls because of their texture, and Anusha failed terribly but it was all in good humour. Below is the video:
Royal Challengers Bangalore has not had a good run this IPL, with Chris Gayle scoring a total of 152 runs in 8 matches. RCB has not been good to Gayle, and the team’s bad luck streamed into his 100th IPL game against Kolkata Knight Riders, where he submitted to a Royal Duck from Umesh Yadav’s delivery. Umesh bowled a delivery to start off the match at M Chinnaswamy stadium and Gayle gave away an easy catch to Gautam Gambhir who was standing at short extra-cover; a hard knock-out for such an auspicious game in his career.
But with Gayle, things are always in a spin, and the cricketer can always be seen having fun both on and off the field. It’s clear that RCB might not have a popular cricket fan following anymore, but at least we have Chris Gayle on our screens and on the internet to provide some light-hearted comedy in the midst of RCB’s juggling expeditions into the IPL this year.

The IPL match between Kolkata Knight Riders and Sunrisers Hyderabad saw David Warner blasting his way to a quick ton. His bat which was silent for the last few matches did the talking finally. However, it was not just his bat which did all the talking in the match.

KKR batsman Robin Uthappa was found shouldering SRH fast bowler Siddharth Kaul after hitting him for a boundary. KKR lost the game by 48 runs and also some fair play points after Uthappa’s uncalled act.

What all happened?

Robin Uthappa hit Kaul for a beautiful four in the third over of the match while chasing a tough target set by Sunrisers Hyderabad. Kaul was going back to the crease when the KKR batsman nudged him with his shoulder. A shocked Kaul looked at him but decided not to utter anything.

KKR were going strong against Rising Pune Supergiant while chasing a stiff 183 on Wednesday night in the 30th match of IPL 2017. The opening pair of Gautam Gambhir-Sunil Narine were going strong at 20 for none after two overs. In the third over, however, a Dhoni special was on offer. On the third ball of the third over, Gautam Gambhir dabbed the Washington Sundar delivery to the fine leg.

The ball deflected by Gambhir reached the short fine leg quickly. They thought of stealing a quick run but Sunil Narine was struggling to the striker’s end. To his good luck, the throw was not on the stumps. To his bad luck, MS Dhoni was standing in front of the stumps.

Dhoni, bringing in use all his genius, easily deflected the ball onto the stumps while Narine was still three inches away from the popping crease. The on-field umpire, unsure of what all happened, went upstairs. The third umpire had a close look of the run-out. And then the screen flashed ‘Out’.

The Vodafone ZooZoos remind everyone about times now gone, but Vodafone seems to have brought the ZooZoos back for the 10th season of the IPL. The tiny minion-like creatures that stole our hearts not long ago are now celebrating IPL 2017. Vodafone introduced the ZooZoos during the second season of the IPL and they are now occupying television screens and the internet everywhere.

Vodafone has been loyal sponsors of the IPL for a very long time, although currently Reliance Jio is in stiff competition for their various marketing on the IPL stage; including jersey logos, ambush marketing like the Mexican wave and other general promotion. Vodafone may have seen it as a strategic move to bring back something lost in the memory of most cricket fans, who have seen Vodafone sponsoring through its decade in the IPL but might still be more influenced by Reliance Jio and their boundary-breaking data plans.

The Vodafone videos feature the ZooZoos doing the Super Cheer dance, a dance routine that is equal parts clever and funny. Each ZooZoo video has a separate cricket theme, one includes ‘Celebrating 10 years of boundaries’, which has the ZooZoos clumsily missing a catch and falling onto the boundary. The other is ‘Celebrating 10 years of huddles’, with a similarly cute video. You can watch the ZooZoos re-incarnated here:

In a funny video released by Gulf Oil India, official sponsors for Rising Pune Supergiant, England and Rising Pune Supergiant all-rounder Ben Stokes called MS Dhoni as a ‘Bollywood Hero’ and Steve Smith, the Australian captain as the ‘Bollywood Villain’.

When asked which two Supergiants you think are definitely Bollywood ‘Hero’ and ‘Villain’ material, Ben Stokes answered MS Dhoni as the hero, poor Steve Smith was the villain. It could also be because of the fact that England and Australia are the oldest rivals in cricket and with Ashes coming up, Stokes subtly let’s know Smith where does he stand for him.

Ajinkya Rahane now becomes the fourth cricketer to post his #BreakTheBeard video, in follow-up to Ravindra Jadeja, Rohit Sharma and Hardik Pandya. Ajinkya Rahane’s Facebook page has been filled with videos featuring him, including the recent one with Steven Smith dressed in a Puneri avatar. The star is known for his shy side so it’s surprising to see him being so candid on social media. Ajinkya Rahane shaved his entire beard leaving only a small patch above his chin.

If social media trends are anything to be certain of, if something catches on then it’s only a matter of time before the rest of social media follows. Expect to maybe see more cricketers doing the look-change that trends the opposite of ideas like ‘No-Shave November’ and the other emerging trends invading Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Jadeja definitely got the ball rolling to challenge IPL cricketers, with the mannequin challenge already participated by various IPL teams. It remains to be seen who else will accept the challenge but Kohli recently posted a picture with him reflecting infinitely into the sky, with a caption saying sorry, I won’t shave.

Whether the whole #BreakTheBeard ordeal makes you laugh uncontrollably or ponder in thought like Kohli, the IPL is certainly heating up some more with every cricket personality’s off-the-field antics. Watch Rahane’s video here:

The El Clasico game was a roaring match that ended 3-2, with Barcelona proving the victors at the 92nd minute. Lionel Messi gave a phenomenal performace while desperately being slide tackled by his opponents and undergoing a blow to the face that had him bleeding. The last goal might be the most memorable moment of the match, with Messi defiantly taking his jersey off and showing it to the fans post goal. The goal was Messi’s 500th career goal for Barcelona and he showed he meant it, as Real Madrid fans stood in disappointment before him.

It was more than apparent that Messi stole the show this El Clasico, especially since both him and Ronaldo had to rise to the challenge considering the stakes for both teams. El Clasico also received a ton of hype on social media and the internet preceding the game, with El Clasico emojis released on Twitter and graffiti artist ‘Tvboy’ making the Messi-Ronaldo rivalry part of his mock-art features.

With the level of extreme football witnessed, it is hard to imagine an El Clasico again with this much grit and nail-biting suspense. With the amount of stunning play that single-handedly handed them the win, it’s no wonder that Messi chose to rub it in to the Real Madrid fans and the living legend deserves his moment, even if the moment deserved a yellow card. Watch the video here:

Cyrus Broacha never fails to get a laugh out of his audience. The celebrity is known for his quick impersonations and impromptu set-ups, from MTV’s Fully Faltoo to his omni-presence as a laughter specialist in just about anything associated with India. Cyrus’ recent expedition into the whacky involved using the Rising Pune Supergiants cricketers in his ‘No Sharam League’ challenge.
The ‘No Sharam League’ enlists cricketers to go all-out and show their fun side, with anything truly outrageous. Cyrus started stage 1 of the ‘No Sharam League’ by using Rising Pune Supergiants stars Faf du Plessis and Steve Smith to sing a song about bananas (yes, bananas) in the tune of a well-known song. The two matched up to Broacha’s idea and sung a ‘ba-na-na-na’ song to the tune of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. The results were quite hilarious and you can watch the full video here:
The ‘Banana Banana Gaana’, as Cyrus titled the challenge, also invited people at home to do the challenge themselves and stand a chance to win RPS match tickets. After the song, Faf du Plessis played along and described his execution of the song like it was a cricket match, describing the temperature and help from his teammates. The ‘No Sharam League’ will continue with new cricketers and Cyrus at the head in the next challenge, the ‘Kangaroo Dance’.

Cristiano Ronaldo’s son was recently seen scoring a free-kick worthy of applause. Ronaldo, who’s known for his striking ability through clever footwork was reasonably happy at his son’s achievement and posted on social media with the message, “so proud of my little man. What a goal.” The timing is auspicious to say the least, as Ronaldo secured a hat-trick to help his side secure their lead into the Champions League semi-final. Ronaldo has also just become the first player to score 100 Champions League goals, a fine achievement that brings good tidings to Real Madrid as they go into El Clasico.

The upcoming El Clasico has paved the way for a lot of buzz pre-game, with Twitter releasing emojis for Messi, Ronaldo, Suarez, Pique and a few other players. There has also been some controversy created by a graffiti artist who painted Cristiano and Messi kissing. Whatever the hype, whether the objectives are satire or positive, it’s good to know football fans get even more of that good hype before El Clasico begins taking fans on what will undoubtedly be a match worth watching.

Cristiano Jr.’s stance and style was reminiscent of his father, using back paces and striking the ball with an instep for a good curve. It’s good to know that Ronaldo’s legacy might perfectly be carried on by his son. Watch the video here:

The Mumbai Indians just released a behind-the-scenes video of their Reliance Jio advertisement. Jio kicked off their IPL-centred promotion on television across India, with cricketers from different teams featuring in dance scripts against the backdrop of Indian locations. Jio has begun an expanse of promotions, including an ‘ambush marketing’ event with a Mexican wave of fans and their logo displayed on almost all the teams’ jerseys.

The behind-the-scenes video captures the advertisement as it was being rehearsed; cameras were set up and it was revealed that the backdrops actually consisted of green screens having the cricketers, kids and teenagers dancing at the front, it was well edited and it’s hard to see the difference in the full advertisement on air. The dance routine has its share of charm and the ‘Dhan Dhana Dhan’ anthem has an addictive flow. As IPL moves forward, everyone is expecting more surprises from Jio, especially considering the brand first rolled out their data plans with temporary benefits and have only just now unveiled their actual plans.

The advertisement features the Mumbai Indians and the Sunrisers Hyderabad and was released before the game to hype the IPL. The behind-the-scenes video was just released on the Mumbai Indians page and already has 330 shares on Facebook:

What’s worse than a tennis match interrupted by a noisy heckler? Possibly a tennis match interrupted by someone having sex. A tennis match at the Sarasota Open in Florida between Frances Tiafoe and Mitchell Krueger was suddenly interrupted by the noise of what seemed to be a couple having sex. While the crowd was in splits, the commentator tried to assess the situation by saying the noise was coming from someone playing a porn clip. He went on to say, “Well, that is the most bizarre situation. I don’t know how to put this, folks. Someone’s phone went off in the stands…and it was an adult video.” One of the players, Tiafoe, stopped while playing and said, “It can’t be that good!”, much to the entertainment of the crowd watching the match.

The commentator’s calm appropriation of the situation didn’t hold well as the noise continued, however. The noise was clearly coming from an apartment nearby, and those were not sounds from a clip. The commentator finally gave up saying, “No, that’s not a phone. That’s an apartment across the lake. Well, at least someone is having a good night.” No one knows if it was a prank or people actually going at it really loudly, but the brief interruption certainly caused a stir, especially since the sounds were loud enough to hear on video. Watch the video here:

A new video has surfaced on Facebook showing cricketing sensation Mandeep Singh in a Punjabi Bhangra dance for his engagement party before his wedding that happened last year. The cricketer wedded his wife Jagdeep Jaiswal, a British national, on December 25th in a Gurudwara nearby his home Phagwara in Jalandhar. The cricketer completed the dance routine and then got down on one knee with a ring and proposed to his to-be wife. Mandeep has previously said that his wife is his lucky charm in cricket. Commenting on keeping up to his promises on the field and having an exciting post marriage, the cricketer said, “I told her that we can do whatever we want till December 31. We will think about the honeymoon later, maybe after the Indian Premier League (IPL).”

A striker who fans have high expectations for this IPL, Mandeep was first a part of KKR and later was signed by Kings XI Punjab for IPL 2011. He was auctioned again in 2014 due to his ability. Mandeep was the vice-captain of India at the ICC U-19 World Cup in New Zealand, and his young talent has shown its spark both as a batsman and a fielder. Now at a senior level, he still holds his own on the cricket field, scoring 616 runs for Punjab in the Ranji 2013-2014 Trophy. Mandeep currently plays for Royal Challengers Bangalore, who signed him in IPL 2015.

A recent video shows AB De Villier’s son with his dad on and off the field. The budding cricket fan is seen playing with his bat and ball while his father records it on his phone. The kid won’t stop his cricket excitement, chanting ‘RCB’ (Royal Challengers Bangalore) and ‘Go RCB’ every time he’s on camera. The kid seems to be having fun as he cutely runs around the hotel, watches Virat Kohli practice and chants RCB with his father. RCB has had a beacon of hope in the form of AB De Villiers, whose consistent play has bought him fame this IPL.

ABD, as he is fondly called, is a family man whose all-round ability in sports permeates in his life as well. Since his early age, ABD excelled in academia and initially was set to follow in his father’s footsteps and become a doctor, but a Titans contract turned him over to cricket. In 2015, his wife gave birth to his son who shares his name. Since then, the batsman with a golden career has been busy juggling his personal life and his continuing improvements in cricket. It’s no surprise that his son already looks ready to take the reign, having a father who changes the game every time he steps on the field must be a definite blessing.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar grabbed a five-wicket haul with a brilliant spell of fast bowling against Kings XI Punjab. It won’t be wrong to say that if he was not there, Sunrisers Hyderabad would not have been able to win the match. He was on target from the first ball of his spell, getting rid of Hashim Amla on the very first ball of the innings. This wicket pushed Kings XI Punjab on the backfoot and gave SRH some chance in the game as they were defending a very low total, 160 to be precise.

The best delivery of the whole match, however, came in the second last over of the day, when a perfect inswinging yorker got rid of Manan Vohra, who had almost taken his side to victory with an emphatic 50-ball-95. Had that wicket not been taken, Sunrisers Hyderabad would have lost the match easily.

The third encounter between South Africa and Sri Lanka was interrupted by the swarm of bees that had entered the the Wanderers stadium in the 24th over bowled by Chris Morris, forcing everyone on the field to get down, except for the brave heart stan

India’s stand-in captain Ajinkya Rahane led the side with great pride on the field in both the innings in Dharamsala. He was inspirational in the way he carried out his plans on the third day of the fourth and final Test, bowling out Australians for a paltry 137 runs in the second innings.

Had Rahane not taken a blinder of a catch in the second innings, India might not have been able to break the partnership that was going strong between Peter Handscomb and Glenn Maxwell.

Being hailed as the next big thing in Indian cricket, Rishabh Pant has emerged as one of the best young talents in the country. He can score runs and at a quick speed too. His constant run making habit got him selected in the Indian T20I squad against England. Hence, comparisons with MS Dhoni as the next wicket-keeper batsman sensation for India was inevitable but Rishabh Pant even at this age is carving out a niche for himself in the cricketing fraternity. Last year has been magnificent for Pant, who scored plenty of runs in the Indian domestic season for Delhi. He was given the reins of Delhi captaincy as well before the Vijay Hazare Trophy.

India could not do much in Rio Olympics 2016 last year, winning just 2 medals. More was expected from the 118-member contingent that went to Rio. However, there were many positives that came out of the grand event. One of them was the success of Dipa Karmakar, the first women gymnast from the country, who finished at 4th position in the finals of the competition. Talking to Sportswallah on the occasion of The Times of India Sports awards, she spoke on how life still remains the same for her after the Olympics success.